


What You Do Not Know

by MagusLibera



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Gen, Pre-Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 13:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21711253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagusLibera/pseuds/MagusLibera
Summary: Mia meets Barry Allen. She says some stuff.Not for Barry Allen fans.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 18
Kudos: 120





	What You Do Not Know

**Author's Note:**

> ONE DAY UNTIL CRISIS!!! 
> 
> To celebrate, here is a little more pettiness and (in my humble opinion) truth tea for Barry Allen.
> 
> Again, I don't actually hate Barry, I'm just a little fed up with him right now and it's fun to play with.

Lyla brings everybody to Earth-38. The reality in which the Supergirl who knows her father resides. Mia sits at a table, surrounded by capes and powers and _a lot_ of blue fabric as Lyla basically tells everyone that they are about to die. Unless they succeed against impossible odds, at least.

Awe strikes her as she sees her father, his only abilities being his learned skills with a bow and with his hands, as he steers the conversation. The others are clearly used to him taking the lead and ensuring that everything is as it should be and everyone is where they need to be. His strength shines through. If Lyla were not here, and she was not a mouthpiece for Mar Novu himself, Mia is certain that her father would be the one leading the meeting.

When her father mentions Barry and the Legends, she finds herself filled with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she remembers all of the wonderful stories that her mother and Aunt Nyssa told her about Aunt Sara and the Legends. About how Sara was always a true and fantastic friend, and her team, whilst slightly unruly and… unorthodox (to say the least) would always do the right thing. On the other hand, she cannot ignore what she has been told, and what she has learnt for herself, about Barry Allen.

Felicity had never been particularly cruel or disparaging when mentioning Barry Allen, but neither had she been particularly kind. The early stories of the man were fun and positive but the more recent ones became progressively less and less so. Mia does try not to let her mother’s bias affect her own assessment of people, but she cannot dispel the suspicion and distrust that lingers in the back of her mind throughout her first experiences with him.

Quickly, she learns that her mother was not far off the mark. There is no denying that Barry Allen is a hero. He has the powers, the determination, the self-sacrificing air about him. But he is also completely oblivious. He has little to no grasp on how the world really works. To him, being a superhero is easy. There is no need to kill a villain because he can defeat them another way and lock them up. There is no problem with changing things if it means that he will win the day because winning that day is more important than any possible effects that changing the past will have on the future.

Reality disagrees with Barry Allen. The world is not black and white, only shades of grey that sometimes mean that drastic measures must be taken for the greater good. The bigger picture is just as, if not more, important than the fine details. If somebody has to die to save thousands of others, then they have to die. If one day, one battle has to be sacrificed so that the coming days and the war can be won, then so be it.

Barry Allen has no ability to see the big picture.

Mia knows this now, just as her mother did and clearly her father too, Mia notes as she sees him trying to explain these concepts in the face of the Crisis. It becomes clear that Barry is just _not getting it_ and both Mia and Oliver are becoming increasingly irate, so she decides to step in and speaks her first words to the Flash.

“You’re Barry Allen?” the man nods in response. “You’re the Barry Allen that my father sacrificed his life for?”

“What?”

“Well I pieced it all together recently. The fact that my father dies tomorrow. The fact that he made a deal to keep everyone safe. The fact that he made a deal in twenty-eighteen to keep you and Kara Danvers alive. My father sacrificed himself to save you last year, and in doing so, he agreed to help the Monitor end the Crisis. Mom told me that you never thanked him. She said that you never even asked him what the cost of saving you had been.”

“I- I didn’t know.” Barry turns to Oliver, “You know it didn’t work, right? The Monitor still says that I’m going to die too.”

Mia grits her teeth, understanding why her mother always gets so frustrated when she speaks of Barry, “Mom also said that you’re the same Barry Allen whose family is responsible for the Crisis coming five years earlier.”

“That’s not true! We didn’t ask for this. I’m going to _die_ , why would I want it to come earlier?”

“I never said that you _wanted_ it to come earlier, only that you’re part of the reason that it has. Apparently your inability to consider the consequences of your actions meant that you and your daughter changed the timeline – even though you know that changing it has always done more harm than good – and because of that decision, Crisis is happening now rather than in more than five years.”

“We had to! It was the only way!” he protests, looking at Oliver as if to ask her father to back him up. Oliver stays silent, simply observing.

“You did not _have to_. You wanted to defeat Cicada on that day, so you did it and you didn’t wait to find another way. You knew that there would be consequences – you are, after all, the Barry Allen who erased Sara Diggle from existence, who made JJ exist and… and Zoe die – but you still did it. It’s just the first time that you yourself have had to suffer the consequences.”

“Mia.” Her father says. It’s not a reprimand or an admonishment, just a consolatory acknowledgement of the pain that is still tearing through her after losing Zoe.

“I never meant to erase Sara, but JJ would not be around if I had not done what I did, and I’m sure that the Diggles are happy that he is.” Barry convinces himself.

“I’m also sure that they were pretty happy when Sara existed and that it would have been the worst thing imaginable for them to think about her being removed from existence like she was never even there. I am also sure that I would have preferred JJ to stay out of existence, where he can’t hurt anybody. And I am certain that I would rather have had five years in which I could be raised by my father than what I ended up with because of you.”

“I didn’t force your father to make that deal. I didn’t ask him to save me.”

“That’s not the point!” she screams, “You stole my chance to have memories of him!” her eyes well up, “You stole my brother’s _family_ from him! If you hadn’t changed things in the way that you did, then my dad would have had five more years with us. He and my mother would have been able to regain custody of my brother and we would have been able to grow up together, as a family. Instead, I didn’t meet my brother until I was twenty years old. The only memories that I have of my father are second hand and my home is a catastrophe. That… that is on you and yours, Barry Allen.”

Oliver sighs, his hand moving to cover her shoulder, offering her as much comfort as he feels able to in that moment.

“She doesn’t mean that, Barry.” Mia glares at him, “Well, maybe she does but she’s not blaming you for _everything_ that goes wrong with the city, just for the years that we lost and she knows that you thought you were doing the right thing. But, Barry, you have to learn to see the big picture because if you don’t then we are all going to die.” With that, Oliver and Mia return to the others, intent on achieving their goals.

And if Mia’s particular goals do not quite align with her father’s. If her primary objective is to save her father _and_ the Multiverse, then what’s the problem with that?

**Author's Note:**

> All mistakes are on me and my beta-less self.
> 
> I'm on Twitter [@MagusLibera](https://twitter.com/MagusLibera).


End file.
